Not long ago, a photo was forwarded to Time.com from a 2001 yearbook of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who was a teacher at the time, dressed in an Aladdin costume that included brownface/blackface makeup. It caused quite a stir, with some people criticizing him as being racist.
Since it’s Halloween, it seems like a good time to talk about blackface/brownface makeup as well as the idea of cultural appropriation.
Lack of exposure?
To start off, it’s worth noting that I am white, and have an undeniable level of privilege because of that. I grew up in a small Canadian town that was mostly white, with some South Asian, Indigenous, and a few assorted other folks tossed in for good measure. I now live in a large Canadian city that is quite multicultural and multi-ethnic, but in relative terms has a very small population of Black people.
To be perfectly honest, it’s only been in the last couple of years that I’ve even heard the issue brought up about how offensive blackface is, and learned about its disturbing origins. Wikipedia says:
The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the ‘happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation’ or the ‘dandified coon.’
Yikes. For most of my life, I didn’t have the slightest clue about any of that. It’s not a matter of willful ignorance, either; I just simply had never been exposed to that information.
Blackface/brownface then vs. now
If I look back to 2001, when I was in my early 20’s and living in the same city Justin Trudeau was, if someone had shown up at a Halloween party I was attending wearing blackface as part of, say, a Jackson Five costume, I would have thought that person was just going full-out getting into costume, and not given it a second thought.
Would I consider that okay now? No. Looking through the lens I have now, I see why it’s offensive. From the lens I had then, I would’ve had no idea, although I certainly would have considered dressing up as a generic “black person” to be offensive. Does that mean I was racist then? I don’t think so. Was I clueless? Sure. Was I clueless because of my white privilege? Probably.
But cluelessness without any exposure to corrective information doesn’t make someone racist. On the other hand, receiving corrective information and then choosing to ignore it is probably a fairly good indicator of racism.
Halloween costumes & stereotypes
What seems less clear to me is the idea of cultural appropriation as it pertains to Halloween costumes. I’m really not sure how much my views on this are shaped by the privilege of being a member of the dominant culture, and also by my perspective that going too far with political correctness doesn’t end up sending the positive message that it’s supposed to and, if anything, it may weaken it.
My feeling on it is this – Halloween costumes are all about caricature, and pretending to be someone you’re not for one night. There’s often a twist of ridiculous, along with a hearty helping of offensiveness. Whether it’s as simple as the sexy nurse or nun, or a more extreme example like the “mental patient” in a straightjacket, Halloween often involves taking extreme stereotypes and then ratcheting up the extremeness to whole new levels.
While some people dressing up as someone of another race or culture may have racist or other biased views, I think a lot of people do not. Poor taste, sure, but that’s pretty pervasive on Halloween. I’m not convinced that automatically translates into espousing those particular stereotypes the other 364 days of the year.
Prejudice goes deeper than makeup
It reminds me somewhat of mental illness stigma, where stereotypes get attached to labels, but simply changing the words isn’t going to make the stigma go away. Similarly, racial and cultural stereotypes may be linked to certain types of costumes or physical characteristics, but doing away with the costumes and the makeup isn’t going to make the underlying prejudice go away. And it’s that deep, underlying prejudice that results in the most harm.
That being said, I recognize that minority cultural groups do get offended by this, and that needs to be respected, as it matters far more than whatever the “they” of political correctness have to say.
Still, I think there are probably better ways to focus our attention. There seem to be a lot of racist, hateful, angry white men running around in the U.S. right now (and other places, for that matter), and I think they pose a far greater threat than people who dressed up in brownface 20 years ago and white kids wearing Black Panther character costumes this Halloween.
The Social Justice & Equality page has info and resources on a wide variety of social issues.
😿
Excellent post, Ashley.
When I was in the 7th grade, a white kid came in costume and balck face. He was immediately sent home. I forgot who he came as, but he din’t even make it through homeroom… His mother picked him up straight away.
Oh interesting.
Well said. Bravo! I am also Canadian and have lived in rural communities as well as large cities. You make excellent points here. There does need to be more awareness around cultural appropriation and black-face/brown-face. I love how you used Shrek as an example. I honestly felt bad for Trudeau. I honestly do not think he is a racist by any stretch of the imagination.
No, he certainly has his flaws, but I highly doubt racism is one of them.
I’m 58, white, and I’ve always known blackface was offensive, but I don’t know how I know. Maybe I once had a super enlightened teacher back in New York or New Jersey. I would not have simply picked it up out of the air. But there are a lot of other more subtle cultural appropriation type of things that I have been clueless about. I still catch myself saying “Indian” and then switch to “Native American,” but that now may be wrong too. I have in the passed dressed as a gypsy, which now you are supposed to call Romany (I think), and I wouldn’t do it again. I try to learn and do my best. As a member of a minority group (Jews), I feel that people can tell if you’re good-intentioned. I think I can tell.
*past
I would hope that most people can recognize good intentions.
I have no problem with the issue of brownface/blackface being brought up, but (granted, I’m speaking as someone from the dominant culture) it’s important as to how it’s brought up. I think that, if used the right way, such revelations can serve as teachable moments about cultural appropriation. And I think that would be a good thing. But instead it’s more often used to try and bring politicians down than to teach anything.
I agree. Teaching promotes positive change, while shaming public figures is unlikely to do so.
This one had me cringing a bit. But you handled the topic with finesse so I’ll leave it that 🙃
Yeah, this is a tricky issue. I agree that people might dress up as someone from another culture with perfectly good intentions, and they just need to be told WHY it is offensive in order to learn and grow. At the same time, I would be pretty offended if I saw someone dressed as “a Jew” or something to that effect for Halloween, eek.
Yeah I agree that dressing up as a generic member of a certain race/group is pretty clear-cut offensive. But when it’s dressing up as a well-known person who happens to be of a certain group it’s blurrier.
OH, yes, that is trickier. If I found out that somebody I knew had done that…I probably wouldn’t know how to navigate the situation
Yeah, it’s tough.
It’s good to read that someone who identifies as white is at least willing to understand the origins of blackface and why it is so offensive to black people. The whole reason for blackface is to humiliate, make fun of and dehumanize black people. People should consider this stufff, do a little research before deciding to do something so offensive. With the rise of blackface in Brazil, I am increasingly less likely to forgive this practice because people ‘didn’t know’. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/?s=blackface
Absolutely, as public awareness has grown it would be very hard for someone not to be aware of this issue now. And persistence once one is aware is completely unacceptable.